But social worker chiefs, police and council bosses ignored their plight - leaving the perverts free to continue their reign of terror for 16 years – targeting 1,400 youngsters as young as 11, a report revealed today.

Instead, the victims were treated as “undesirables” and reports of the abuse were “swept under the carpet” because staff feared being labelled racist as most of the attackers were Asian.

Others were stalked, doused with petrol, set alight, threatened with guns and made to watch violent rapes. Some youngsters were even picked up by taxi or limousines at school gates right under the noses of staff.

Video Loading

Video Unavailable

Click to playTap to play

The video will start in 8Cancel

Play now

But when heads and teachers told the authorities, they were ignored, it is claimed. The report said a third of the victims were known to police.

And they were “treated with contempt” by officers asked to ­investigate their accusations. Fathers who tried to rescue them from their abusers’ homes were arrested.

There had been three previous reports into paedophile activity in Rotherham before the latest by Professor Alexis Jay OBE. But they too were ignored by social worker chiefs.

One insider said: “The people above just didn’t want to know.”

Today, Rotherham council leader Labour leader Roger Stone announced he would quit over the ­failings that allowed the abuse to carry on between 1997 and last year.

But not one member of the council has been ­disciplined or fired. And Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper tonight demanded a public inquiry into how the so many child victims could have been ignored for so long.

She said: “An inquiry needs to get moving as fast as possible to start listening to all those let down by a system set up to protect them.”

Labour MP John Mann added: “Heads should roll and they should be at the top. There should be sackings and if not there should be more ­resignations from the police as well as the council.”

Prof Jay tonight said she thought the people of Rotherham would be “appalled” by her report.

She added: “The ­authorities involved have a very great deal to answer here… the parents are rightly angry.

“If all of the authorities involved had been less concerned with their own agendas and prejudices and kept their focus on ­children’s welfare, some of these ­children might not have suffered the abuse and brutality.”

Prof Jay’s report said almost all the offenders were of Pakistani heritage but not all the victims were young white girls. And senior people in the council and the police appeared to “play down the ethnic dimensions”.

The paper added: “By far the majority of perpetrators were described as Asian by victims. Some councillors seemed to think it was a one-off problem, which they hoped would go away.

"Several staff described their nervousness about ­identifying the ethnic origins of perpetrators for fear of being thought racist.

“Others remembered clear direction from their managers not to do so.

"Several councillors interviewed believed that by opening up these issues they could be ‘giving oxygen’ to racist ­perspectives that might in turn attract extremist political groups and threaten community cohesion.”

Video Loading

Video Unavailable

Click to playTap to play

The video will start in 8Cancel

Play now

But Prof Jay stressed: “As has been stated many times before, there is no simple link between race and child sexual exploitation, and across the UK the greatest numbers of perpetrators of CSE are white men.”

The report said police officers on the ground in the 90s and “well beyond did not understand CSE and the nature of grooming”.

It added: “Children as young as 11 were deemed to be having consensual sexual intercourse when in fact they were being raped and abused by adults.

“We were contacted by someone who worked at Rotherham in the 2000s. He described how the police refused to intervene when young girls who were thought to be victims of CSE were being beaten up and abused by perpetrators.

"According to him, the attitude of the police seemed to be that they were ‘undesirables’ and not worthy of police protection.”

Town: The centre of Rotherham (Image: Google Street View)

Many of the victims started self harming and became ­homeless and suicidal. One yesterday told of her ordeal, which began when she was 13.

The woman said: “People have been sexually abused and assaulted in the worst way. And these ­professionals sat behind their desks, took their wages, knowing this is happening, and done nothing.

"To me, that makes them as bad as the perpetrators.”

The spotlight first fell on Rotherham in 2010 when five perverts – Adil Hussain, Razwan Razaq, Mohsin Khan, Umar Razaq, and Zafran Ramzan – were jailed for grooming teenage girls.

Mr Stone today sent his “heartfelt ­apologies” to those young people and their families let down by the council in the past. He joined Rotherham in 1988 and was elected leader in 2003.

Staying: Martin Kimber (Image: PA)

Chief Executive, Martin Kimber, confirmed no one had been disciplined or sacked after the report.

He said: “There are people still in ­professional practice today who were working for Rotherham during the critical periods and it’s important their current employers read this report for their own ­judgments as to their ­particular role at that time.”

Rotherham is not the only town where councils have failed to protect ­youngsters from paedophiles. There have been cases in Oxford, Rochdale and Derby.

Were you one of the 1,400 children in Rotherham who suffered abuse? Call us anonymously on 0800 282591 or email mirrornews@mirror.co.uk

Muslims disgusted justice was not done: By Muhbeen Hussain, Founder of Rotherham Muslim Youth Group

The independent report into child sexual exploitation in Rotherham has revealed a truly shocking and harrowing level of depravity.

As the report highlights the majority of the perpetrators, though not exclusively, were of Pakistani heritage. All of them will have been brought up in Muslim households.

The Pakistani Muslim community now has to play its own part in ensuring that crimes of this nature are not repeated. The time for burying heads in the sand and hoping the problem passes by is over.

It is happening and we have to recognise and deal with it. The actions of these men go against the very basic principle of Islam. And there is nothing in Pakistani culture that encourages or condones such vile acts. The Muslim community have never said don’t make prosecutions. We are highly against this kind of thing.

We want prosecutions to be made and we want communities to unite on this issue to make sure it is categorically stamped out. Race, religion or political correctness should never provide a cloak of invisibility to such grotesque crimes.

We are appalled that race or religion could ever be used as a reason for not investigating this or any other crime.

We also need to make sure that from a young age certain issues are discussed and this is not a taboo subject. Last year we had the imam come and do a speech in mosques. More should be done and our group is working on a local strategy to implement as soon as possible.

If we do not tackle this issue properly then the EDL and other far right groups will jump on the bandwagon and use this as a way to segregate communities. We need to stand together because the vast majority of the Pakistani and Muslim community is with all the rest in Rotherham and we do not accept any type of child grooming.

We are shocked that the police and social services didn’t make prosecutions and we are even more disgusted that the council wish to use the excuse of community cohesion. There is no excuse for criminal acts like these.